The present invention relates to a method of initiating the detonation of a warhead which is a component of a guided flying body or missile for combatting the warhead of an incoming enemy missile and which includes an active radar target seeker provided with a transmit/receive antenna and an evaluation and control unit. More particularly, the present invention relates to such a method wherein the active radar target seeker detects the position of the enemy missile by measuring its range and deriving signals therefrom with which, during its target tracking and target approach phase, the guided missile is guided toward the enemy missile and, wherein detonation of the warhead of the guided missile is initiated when the enemy missile is reached. The present invention also relates to an arrangement for implementing the method.
The above-mentioned method and the associated arrangement are employed, for example, to combat flying targets and are used with preference in the defense against flying bodies or missiles. The warhead for combatting the warhead of an incoming enemy flying body or missile is here a component of a guided missile. The guided missile includes an active radar target seeker provided with a transmit/receive antenna and an evaluation and control unit which are connected with one another by way of a high frequency component including an integrated oscillator. The active radar target seeker detects the position of the enemy missile by measuring its range and derives signals therefrom with which the guided missile is guided to the enemy missile during the target tracking and target approach phases. When the enemy missile is reached, the warhead of the guided missile is caused to detonate.
If the enemy flying body or missile is, for example, in a dive onto a ground target, it is of the utmost importance that the warhead of the enemy missile be destroyed while still in the air, that is, before the enemy missile reaches the ground target, so that damage to the ground target that could be caused by the enemy missile can be kept as low as possible. Defensive missiles provided with target seekers must therefore detect the enemy missile already at a great distance and must home in as closely as possible to its warhead. An active target seeker is able to measure the range of the enemy missile and thus, in principle, calculate the optimum location of detonation and, connected with it, the optimum time of detonation. The presently attainable precision in range measurements lies in a range of decimeters. All prior art methods for guiding flying bodies or missiles thus furnish a range measurement accuracy (from the warhead of the defensive missile to the warhead of the enemy missile) which lies higher by one to two powers of ten than the tolerable value for the optimum moment of detonation. This inaccuracy is caused primarily by interferences from the individual scattering centers of the attacking or enemy missile. Due to their statistical character, these interferences lead to a statistical ranging error which makes combatting the enemy missile drastically more difficult.
It is thus an object of the present invention, on the one hand, to provide a method of the above-mentioned type with which the position of the warhead of an enemy missile can be determined as precisely as possible and, on the other hand, to create an arrangement of the simplest possible configuration for implementing such a method.